ing up his hand; "I didn't know it."

"Well, mop it up, or you'll have your jacket spoilt. And you have got a
nasty eye, Scud; you'd better go and bathe it well in cold water."

"Cheap enough too, if we've done with our old friend Flashey," said
East, as they made off up stairs to bathe their wounds.

They had done with Flashman in one sense, for he never laid finger on
either of them again; but whatever harm a spiteful heart and venomous
tongue could do them he took care should be done. Only throw dirt
enough, and some of it is sure to stick; and so it was with the fifth
form and the bigger boys in general, with whom he associated more or
less, and they not at all. Flashman managed to get Tom and East into
disfavour, which did not wear off for some time after the author of it
had disappeared from the School world. This event, much prayed for by
the small fry in general, took place a few months after the above
encounter. One fine summer evening Flashman had been regaling himself on
gin-punch, at Brownsover; and having exceeded his usual limits, started
home uproarious. He fell in with a friend or two coming back from
bathing, proposed a glass of beer, to which they assented, the weather
being hot, and they thirsty souls, and unaware of the quantity of drink
which Flashman had already on board. The short result was, that Flashey
became beastly drunk; they tried to get him along, but couldn't; so
they chartered a hurdle and two men to carry him. One of the masters
came upon them, and they naturally enough fled. The flight of the rest
raised the master's suspicions, and the good angel of the fags incited
him to examine the freight, and, after examination, to convoy the hurdle
himself up to the School-house; and the Doctor, who had long had his eye
on Flashman, arranged for his withdrawal next morning.

The evil that men, and boys too, do, lives after them: Flashman was
gone, but our boys, as hinted above, still felt the effects of his hate.
Besides, they had been the movers of the strike against unlawful
fagging. The cause was righteous--the result had been triumphant to a
great extent; but the best of the fifth, even those who had never fagged
the small boys, or had given up the practice cheerfully, couldn't help
feeling a small grudge against the first rebels. After all, their form
had been defied--on just grounds, no doubt; so just, indeed, that they
had at once acknowledged the wrong and remained passive in the strif